Friends and Foes in the ID Debate

In a guest essay in today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Center for Science & Culture's associate director John West comments:

If foes are guilty of misappropriating intelligent design ... so are some of its newfound friends. As intelligent design has become a household term, a few well-meaning but misguided public officials have conflated the theory of design with creationism or tried to impose it by legislation.

West concludes:

Supporters of intelligent design are willing to disavow misguided efforts to impose it by government fiat. Defenders of Darwinism likewise need to reject efforts to enforce their views by trampling on academic freedom. The validity of intelligent design should be decided through fair and open debate, not through legislation enacted by its friends or witch hunts conducted by its foes.